Smog and cognitive issues in the school going children of Lahore and Islamabad, Pakistan

The contemporary efforts toward economic growth and rapid industrialization have increased the risk of pollution-related ailments. Lahore is placed 20th on the list of most polluted cities with high levels of atmospheric particulate matter, exceeding the baseline value given by the WHO. The prolonged exposure to air pollution has been associated with cognitive dysfunction, deficit in working memory, executive function, attention and fluid intelligence. The study aimed to assess the relationship between cognitive issues among residents where the residents were divided into two groups with distinction to severity of pollution: Lahore-a highly polluted city; and Islamabad: a relatively cleaner city. The target population was healthy children aged 7-11 years, residing in the polluted area (Lahore) and the unpolluted area (Islamabad). They were assessed through computerized tests (the dual n-back test for working memory and the Stroop color-word test for attention). Independent samples t-test was used to test the hypothesis. The results revealed significant association between exposure to pollution and performance on working memory as well as attention task. Students residing in Lahore (polluted city) showed poor performance on both working memory and attention tasks, including a lower number of hits, lower dMODIFIER LETTER PRIME score, longer reaction time on both congruent and incongruent trials, and higher error rate, than in Islamabad. The study's findings indicate that students exposed to pollution perform poorly on cognitive tasks, compared to children with little/no exposure.